Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Missouri
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Freshwater mussel populations have not been recently surveyed in the Current River and the National Park Service wishes to develop a standardized and repeatable survey methodology to assess species richness, habitat associations, and occupancy. This project will use spatially replicated sampling at numerous sites within the mainstem Current River to estimate the desired metrics. Results of the work will be used to inform park planning, assist with mussel recovery efforts, and will be employed in future surveys as a way to monitor the status of mussel populations through time.